Main Street Financial Solutions LLC Lowers Stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Main Street Financial Solutions LLC trimmed its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 4.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 34,392 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,755 shares during the quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $5,574,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in JNJ. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 20,130.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,454,473 shares of the company’s stock valued at $559,832,000 after purchasing an additional 3,437,397 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 506.9% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,884,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $567,826,000 after buying an additional 3,244,862 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,834,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,453,978,000 after acquiring an additional 3,139,499 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 59.0% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 6,708,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $980,579,000 after acquiring an additional 2,489,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the first quarter worth about $331,178,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 14th. Daiwa America downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $161.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $175.00.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

NYSE:JNJ opened at $153.28 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $369.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.53. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $143.13 and a 12-month high of $168.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company’s 50-day moving average is $162.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $156.01.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $22.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.17 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 35.45% and a net margin of 19.14%. Johnson & Johnson’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.66 EPS. Research analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 5,635 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.06, for a total value of $930,113.10. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,131,683.38. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

About Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, researches, develops, manufactures, and sells various products in the healthcare field worldwide. The company's Innovative Medicine segment offers products for various therapeutic areas, such as immunology, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis; infectious diseases comprising HIV/AIDS; neuroscience, consisting of mood disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, and schizophrenia; oncology, such as prostate cancer, hematologic malignancies, lung cancer, and bladder cancer; cardiovascular and metabolism, including thrombosis, diabetes, and macular degeneration; and pulmonary hypertension comprising pulmonary arterial hypertension through retailers, wholesalers, distributors, hospitals, and healthcare professionals for prescription use.